Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-02-11

worlds existence hoodwinked, cheated, ca.
| joled, duped By the Christian religion. All!
that is the remarkable thing about this delu-
sion Of Christianity, it overpowers the
| strongest intellects Gather the critics, secu-
lar and religious, Of this century together,
| aud put vote to them as to which is the
greatest book ever written, and by large
majority they will say paradise Lost"
| Who wrote Paradise LostF One of the
fools who believed in this Bible, John Mil
! ton BENJAMIN Franklin surrendered to this
| delusion, If you may judge from the letter
that he wrote to Thomas Paine begging him
| to destroy the cage of Reason" in manu-
script and never let it go into type, and writ
ing afterward, in his old days: "Of this
| Jesus of Nazareth have to say that the svs-
| tenn Of morals He let, and the religion He
has given us are the best things the world
| has ever seen or is likely to see.n
Patrick Henry, the electric champion
| of liberty, enslaved by this delusion,
| SO that he says: "The book worth all other
books put together is the Bible. B eniamin
Rush, the leading Psychologist and anatom-
ist of his day, the great medical scientist
what did he say' "The only true and perfect
religion is Chris ianity." Isaac Newton, the
| leading philosopher of his time-what did he
| sayl That man Surrendering to this delu-
sion of the Christian religion, crying out:
1.-THE sublimest philosophy on earth is the
| philosophy of the Gospel David Brewster,
| gcr'ntIsG Une worIu over oows MS nead, David
| Brewster saying: 80, this religion has been
a great light to me, a very great light all my
| days" President Theirs, the great
French statesman, acknowledging that he
prayed when he said: Il invoke the Lord
God in whom am glad to beieven David
! Livingstone, able to conquer the lion, able
| to conquer the panther able to conquer ( he
savage, yet conquered by this delusion, tn is
hallucination, this great swindle of the ages,
| so when thev find him dead they find him on
! his knees. William L. Gladstone, the strong
est intellect in England to-day unable tore
siSt this chmera, this fallacy this deluson
| of the Christian religion, goes to the house
| OF God every Sabbath, and often at the in
vitation of the rector, reads the prayers to
the people,. o, If those mighty intellects are
overborne by this delusion, what chance il
there for you and for me'
Beside that, have noticed that first-rate
nfidels cannot be depended on for steadfast-
ness in the proclamation of their sentiments
Goethe, leading skeptic, was so wrought
upon by this Christianity that in weak
moment he cried out: my belief in the
Bible has saved me in my literary and moral
life." Rousseau, one of the most eloquent
champions of infdelity spending his whole
life warning against Christianity, cries out:
"The ma iesty Of the Scriptures amazes me-"
Altamont, the notorious infidel, one would
| think he would have been safe against this
delusion Of the Christian religion. Oh, mol
| After talking against Christianity all his
days. In his last hours he cried out: "Oh,
| thou blasphemed but most indulgent
Lord God hell itself is a refuge if
| 1t hide me from Thy frown." Voltaire, the
| most talented infidel the world ever saw,
writing two hundred and fifty publications,
and the most of them spiteful against Chris
tianity himself the most notorious libertine
| of the century-one would have thought he
| nOnl6 haUn hnnO dpnnnAa6 for ctna1.
fastness in the advocacy of infidelity and in
the war against this terrible chimeras this
| delusion of the Gospel But no; in his last
hour he asked for Christian burial, and asks
that they give him the sacrament of the
Lord Jesus Christ Why, you cannot de-
| pend upon these firstrate infidels-you can.
not depend upon their power to resist this
great delusion of Christianity. Thomas
Paine, the got Of modern skeptics, his
| birthday celebrated in New York
and Boston with great enthusiasm
Thomas Paine, the paragon Of Bible
haters-Thomas Paine, about whom his
brother infidel, William Carver, wrote in
letter which have at my house, saying that
he drank quart of rum day and was too
| mean and too dishonest to pay for it-Thom-
as Paine, the aiored of modern infidelty-.
| Thomas Paine, who stole another mans wife
in England and brought her to this land
| Thomas Paine, who was so suualid and so
and so beastlY in his habits, som atimes picked
out of the ditch, sometimes too filthy to be
| picked out-Thomas Paine, one would have
thought that he could have been depended on
for steadfaStness against this great delusion.
But no. In his dying hour, he begs the Lord
Jesus Christ for mercy.
Powerful delusion, all-conquering delusion,
earthqualing delusion OF the Christian re-
lig on. Yea it goes on, it is so impertnent,
and it is so overbearing, this chimera of the
Gospel, that having conquered the great
picture galleries of the world the old mas
| terS and the young masters, as | showed in a
| former sermon, it is not satisfied until it has
conquered the music of the world. Look
over the programme of that magnificent
musical festival a few years ago in
| New York and see what were the
great performances, and learn that the
greatest of all the subjects were religious
subjects. What was it one night when three
thousand voices were accom- anied with a
vast number Of Instruments "Jsrael in
| Egypt" Yes. Beethoven deluded until he
wrote the High Mass in D. Ma or. Haydn
deluded with this religion until he wrote the
| Creation" Handel delu'e1 until he wrote
the oratorios of "Jephthah" and "Esthern
messiah" On the closing night three
thousand deluded people singing of delu
sion to eight thousand deluded hearers.
Yes this chimera OF the Gospel is not sat
tsfied until it goes on and builds itself into
| the most permanent architecture, so it seems
as if the world is never to get rid of it. What
are some of the finest buildings in the world :
St Paul's, ST. Peters, the churches and ca
theirals of all Christendom. Yes, this inn
pertinence of the Gospel this vast delusion
is not satisfied until it projects itself, and In
one year gives, contributes, S6,250,000 to
foreign missions the work of which is to
make ounces and fools on the other side of the
| xUnpIh--TNaOTNlo txo hoy na1t1 dod
doctors two hundred and twenty physicians
meeting week by week in London. in the
Union Medical Prayer Circle, to worship
God. Deluded lawyers-the late Lord Cairns,
the highest legal authority in England, the
ex-adviser of the throne, spending his vaca-
to the poor people of Scotland. Frederick
T. Frelinghuysen, once the Secretary OF
State of the United States an old-fashioned
evangelical Christian. an elder in the Re
formed Church. Jonn Bright deluded
Quaker Henry Wilson, the Vice-President
of the United States, dying deluded Metho-
dist or Ccngregationalist Earl of Kintore
dying deluded Presbyterian. The canni-
balls in South Sea, the Bushmen of Terra del
Fuego, the wild men of Australia, putting
down the knives of their cruelty, and cloth
ing themselves in decent apparel-all under
the power of this delusion. Judson, and Doty,
and Abeel, and Campbell, and William, and
I btle JlT6o JHOuSdul IllSolOHttltS Vi IuO u VS.
turning their backs on home and civilization
and comfort, and going out among the squalor
of heathenism to receive it, to save it, tc
help it, toiling until they drop into theil
graves, dying with no earthly comfort about
them, and going into graves with no appro
pirate epitaph, when they might have LIVED
in this country, and lived for themselves
and lived luxuriously, and been at last pu
into brilliant sepulchres What Gelusion
Yea, this deusion of Christian religion
shows itself in the fact that it goes to thos
who are in trouble. Now, it is bad enough
to cheat man when he is well, and when h
is prosperous; but this religion comes to